Category: Farm Fresh Answers

Can’t Take the Farm Out of the Girl

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If you would have told me my senior year of high school I would be farming with my dad six years later, I would have laughed at you and told you not a chance.  At that time, I thought I wanted to be some big wig executive in the Chicago area.

I went for that dream and upon graduating the University of Illinois with a degree in Finance and a concentration in Real estate moved to Arlington Heights to become a Commercial Real Estate Credit Analyst for a bank up there.  Let’s just say you can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl and I moved back to Central Illinois in a year.

It was a very difficult year for me and it didn’t take me long to realize it was the farm I was missing and nothing else.  I was blessed to obtain a position at a bank in Bloomington, Ill. after returning home.

At that point I realized farming was in my blood and I was right where I wanted to be. Dad and I have been working together ever since.  Weekends are spent side by side with my father and typically you will find me under a piece of machinery covered in dirt, oil and/or grease.  Both he and I, the 5th and 6th generations of our family farm, work full time jobs in addition to our grain farm operation.

Some say farming isn’t a girl’s world, but for me it is and I know several other farm girls ready to prove those words wrong.  I wouldn’t trade my life for anything and I am beyond blessed to be a farm girl from Central Illinois.

Check out photos from Harvest 2015 on the Huffman Farm.

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Farm Fresh Podcast: Soggy Summer, Dry Fall

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Empty fields all around central Illinois indicate the 2015 harvest season is coming to a close. Excess rain in June caused concern early in the growing season, but did it make a big dent in corn or soybean yields?

WJBC host Terry James catches up with McLean County grain farmer, Gerald Thompson to find out how the soggy summer and dry fall factored into  the end results for this year’s harvest on the Farm to Table segment episode 11.4.15.

Catch the “Farm to Table” segment every Wednesday at 12:45 p.m. on WJBC Radio.

Farm Fresh Answers Podcast
Farm Fresh Answers Podcast
Farm Fresh Podcast: Soggy Summer, Dry Fall
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What’s Cooking Wednesday: Broccoli Ham Cheese Strata

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Broccoli Ham Cheese Strada

Breakfast, lunch, brunch or ‘brinner’ (breakfast for dinner) this tasty egg casserole will be a crowd pleaser any time of the day. A ‘strata’ is a savory bread pudding-like dish and its name comes from the fact that it’s a dish with layers. A strata is also a great way to use slightly stale or day-old bread.

One flavorful ingredient in this recipe is ham, a cured cut of pork. Curing is an ancient practice – used for thousands of years to preserve meat long before the invention of refrigeration. From ancient societies and Native American cultures to Pioneer farmsteads, things like ‘salt pork’ and smoke houses preserved protein for the winter months. For a technical look at what curing is and how it works, click here.

I think one of my favorite things about this recipe is the texture – light, fluffy & delicious!

Ingredients:

  • 12 slices bread (slightly stale is better)
  • 3/4 cup cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup broccoli florets, cooked & drained
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 1/2 cup finely diced ham
  • 6 eggs
  • 3 1/2 cups milk
  • 1/4 tsp. dry mustard

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease the bottom of a 9 x 13″ baking dish.
  2. Cut circles out of the center of each slice of bread with a glass or biscuit cutter. Pinch a hole in the center of each circle to make a doughnut shape.
  3. Use scraps and crusts of bread to cover the bottom of the baking dish.
  4. Sprinkle ham, broccoli & onion evenly over bread. Sprinkle with cheese.
  5. Top with bread doughnuts.
  6. Whisk eggs and milk together until fluffy. Whisk in dry mustard.
  7. Pour liquid over casserole evenly. Flip doughnuts to make sure they are coated with egg mixture on both sides.
  8. Bake for about 50 minutes until top is golden and casserole is set (if you test with a fork, it should come out clean).
  9. Serve hot.

Note: photos show 1/3 recipe baked in a loaf pan

Farm Fresh Podcast: ‘Backstage Pass’ to Farming

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Illinois River barge, lock & dam

The Ag Exchange program, sponsored by the McLean County Chamber of Commerce offers participants a ‘backstage pass’ to see agriculture up close and personally meet local farmers.

Take a look behind the scenes with Ag Exchange members Krishna Balakrishnan & Cat Woods, guests on  WJBC’s Farm to Table segment Episode 10.28.15.

Tune in every Wednesday at 12:45 p.m. for the “Farm to Table” segment on WJBC Radio.

Farm Fresh Answers Podcast
Farm Fresh Answers Podcast
Farm Fresh Podcast: 'Backstage Pass' to Farming
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The Friday Five: Et tu, Subway?

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On Tuesday, another restaurant chain joined the ranks of the farmer-maddening crowd. If you have farmer friends on social media you may have noticed a flurry of comments and commentary about Subway’s announcement to source meat from animals raised without antibiotics.

For a quick sampling of farmer responses check out: Subway Announces A Bullet is their Choice of Treatment for Sick Animals…; Did Subway Make the Right Call?  & Eat Fresh & Stay Politically Correct…and more

Farmers are a little fed up with the rhetoric and fear mongering surrounding antibiotic use. The frustration stems from the fact that while farmers provide the raw ingredients for our food, most of the time they get left out of these conversations and are villianized by corporate marketing decisions driven by misguided opinions rather than real food safety risks.

To take a look at the meat of the matter, check out five reasons you can rest easy about antibiotics used for animals for this week’s Friday Five:

  1. ALL meat is antibiotic free. Any animal treated with an antibiotic must be held out of the food supply until the withdrawal time for the drug administered is up. Just like any drug used by people, after a certain number of days the antibiotic is no longer present in the animal’s body. Specific withdrawal times for each drug are set by USDA & FDA, plus meat is also inspected & tested for the presence of antibiotics. For more about withdrawal times and how antibiotics are used on the farm, check out this video from the North American Meat Institute.
  2. Veterinary Oversight:  Similar to prescription drugs for people, antibiotics can only be given to animals with a directive from a veterinarian. To learn more, check out this info  from the Animal Health Institute.
  3. Quality Animal Care to Limit Antibiotic Use: Did you know that on many of today’s pig farms, workers must shower before entering the farm everyday? That’s just one way farmers work to limit the need for antibiotics by limiting exposure to disease.  Other tools farmers use to keep animals healthy include vaccinations, feeding animals a balanced diet specifically formulated for their age and needs and providing shelter from inclement weather or extreme heat. Take a closer look at antibiotics & animal care on the farm here, here or here.
  4. Most Animal Antibiotics are not used in Human Medicine: Antibiotics are classified into different categories and about 70% of the antibiotics used in animals are rarely used for people (Tetracyclines) or not used for people at all (Ionophores). Check out this infographic for a more detailed breakdown.
  5. Antibiotics are Expensive…and as a result farmers have no incentive to overuse them. Check out this Facebook post from the Peterson Farm Bros that explains more about the cost of antibiotics.

Have a question about antibiotic use on the farm? Ask us!

UPDATE: Subway revised their statement on animal care & antibiotic use as of 10-23-15. For more, check out this post or see Subway’s policy here.

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